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DISCOURSE 



COJIMEMOKATIVE OF 



OUR ILLUSTRIOUS MARTYR, 



DELIVERED IN 



Congrtgational Cljurrlj, Souljj ^.biiigtoir, 



FAST DAY, JUI^E 1, 1865. 




Rev. henry L. EDWARDS, 



BOSTON: 

WEIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, No. 4 SPRING LANE. 
18 65. 






Eev. H. L. Edwards: 

Dear Sir, — It would gratify many who were not present, and many who were, to see 
in print your very acceptable Discourse in memory of Abraham Lincolk, as delivered 
on occasion of the National Fast. 

MANY PARISHIONERS. 

South Abington, June 4, 1365. 



SERMON. 



Acts, viii. 2. 



"axd devout mk:* carried stephex to his burial, axd made great 
lamentation over him." 

And SO devout men bore Abraham Lincobi to his burial, and 
made great lamentation over 1dm. Devout men! Devout 
miiHUudes', for Cities, Commonwealths, nay, the whole Country, 
rose up, in tearful tribute, as those mortal remains moved on 
to their soft slumber, amid the spreading prairies of the West. 
For two memorable weeks did a loving people tenderly detain 
the cherished dust of their endeared President, that their tears 
might have time to flow; and the funeral cortege stretched a 
thousand miles unbroken, from the waters of the weeping Atlan- 
tic, toward the setting sun. The atmosphere was draped; build- 
ings were in ebony ; every balcony was a catafalque ; and every 
street, and the long line of railroad, seemed one shaded avenue, 
leading to the Mausoleum of the dead. The precious casket 
was covered wath costliest and sweetest flowers, and every 
countenance was a symbol of bereavement. Was there ever 
such a spectacle ? Did the sun ever, in all its circuit, look 
down upon such a scene ? A whole nation a weeping Niobe. 
When Prince Albert, and Lafayette, and Edward Everett, were 
borne to their burial, mighty men were bowed with grief; 
but the burial of Abraham Lincoln was unprecedented. Wlien 
the great Washington departed this life, the country was cov- 
ered with sackcloth. " It was a day of darkness, and of doubt- 
ful expectation," says a cotemporary. There was then, however, 
but a small population comparatively to mourn. When the 
first Christian martyr was carried to his sepulchre in Jerusalem, 
devout men, as we have just heard, made great lamentation 



over hira. And still it was but a handful of fond and faithful 
associates who attended, or dared to attend, his funeral obsequies. 
The language of the text has w^aited till now, for its most com- 
plete exemplification. Never till now, such general lamenta- 
tion ; and the days of our mourning are not ended. Weeks 
have elapsed, and the turf is growing green upon the new-made 
mound, in that distinguished necropolis, but men have not for- 
gotten the latest, the mournful, and the ever to be remembered 
martyrdom. The name of Alexander shall be effaced, the 
fame of Napoleon shall perish, ere the memory of the emi- 
nent martyr of liberty ; that memory shall remain, while sun 
and moon endure. 

"Many, dear man, have mourned for thee, 
And yet shall many mourn, 
Long as thy name on earth shall be 
In sweet remembrance borne." 

And many shall make pilgrimages, from age to age, to the 
place which marks thy last repose. Oh, mighty Mississippi, 
flow gently past ; oh, ye prairie winds, utter ye his long 
requiem. 

On the 19th of April, a day historic in Massachusetts, and 
rendered doubly so by late occurrences, we were assembled in 
this house, in common with the people of other communities, 
and States, to pour the incense of our heartfelt sorrow, upon 
the altar of such a memory. To-day we are assembled again, 
in obedience to the proclamation of the new President, and in 
accordance with the precedent at the death of Washington. 
What but an almost unexampled sorrow, would have seemed 
to sanction such an appointment ? And what lesser bereave- 
ment would have brought together in the land the second time, 
such numbers, to testify of their affliction, and their affection ? 
Truly, the days of our mourning are not ended ; and to-day is 
to me, too sacred for neglect, or trifling festivities. 

It will not be inappropriate to this occasion, certainly, to 
consider some of the reasons for this prolonged lamentation. 
Our first thought then is naturally this. We are in mourning 
for our ruler. No man, out of office, however eminent and 
beloved, would have been mourned like this. Gen. Washing- 



ton's death sixty-six years ago, did not cause so much grief, 
great as it was, as had the same event three years earlier, 
while he was yet in the Presidency. Let Abraham Lincoln 
have completed his second term, however honorably, and sub- 
sequently died in private life, though the death of a remark- 
able man had been chronicled, and many had mourned, still 
the whole country would never have attended his funeral as 
now. Nor would any rank but that of President have so 
touched the popular heart. Much of the mourning over 
President Harrison's and President Taylor's death was due 
to the fact, that they died, when standing at the head of the 
nation. It is analogous to the removal of a valued father in a 
family. It is not altogether because we loved that honored sire. 
The heartstrings are not more tenderly agitated than at the 
departure of a mother, or sister, or daughter ; perhaps not so 
much. But it is the misfortune, it is the loss, the breaking 
up of our dependence, the disappointment of our plans. 
Affliction is not always simply the measure of affection. It is 
partly the product of self-interest. We felt that we could not 
spare President Lincoln because he was our head ; not only one 
of the family, but the first and chief; "the great father of 
many people," as it is in the book of the Macabecs. Dying in 
that relation, he would have been regretted, had he been loved 
far less than he was. The death of James Buchanan even, 
while President, would have been attended with some anxious 
regrets. Doubtless Domitian was honored with mourners at 
his demise ; It is recorded of Nero, that he " received an hon- 
orable burial ; " and of Caligula that " there were those who 
sincerely mourned him, and honored his remains ; " so strong 
a hold upon human nature has the idea of ruler and adminis- 
trator. But OUR chief cannot be a tyrant nor usurper. He is 
our choice for the time being; and, therefore, a stroke at his 
life, be it Buchanan, or Lincoln, so far as the presidency is 
concerned, is a stroke at yours and mine. The blow is felt 
through every branch of the great household. The public 
heart bleeds. Monarchies have misunderstood us. They have 
thought that strong attachments between the government and the 
subject, in a republic, are impossible, and that only hereditary 
authority can be ardently revered and loved. Because we 



change our rulers, at short intervals, they imagine that, though 
the same be removed by death, there is little or no love lost. 
This is a grand mistake of theirs ; and they have seen it in 
this case, and gracefully acknowledged it. The truth is, we 
have no blind respect for the person, irrespective of the power. 
But that power the people have put in his hands for a period, 
and the power is a part of us ; and whoso toucheth that, 
toucheth the apple of our eye. Thus the murderer of our 
Chief Magistrate has murdered a member of every family. It 
is a death in every dwelling. No grief, when death lays low 
one of our own number ! Is that so ? Nay ; the affliction is 
felt in every limb and leaf of the family tree. A republic 
partakes of the family constitution, as no other nationality can, 
and therefore the assassination of our paternal head has 
thrilled through every artery of the national heart, as no 
assassination of Napoleon III., or the Pope of Rome, or even 
the idolized Queen of the British Isles, would have affected 
those foreign empires. 

But I would observe, secondly, that in addition to the 
political element in our bereavement, tbere is peculiarly, in 
the present instance, a personal sorrow ; for we mourn not 
only a ruler dead, but a good ruler. We have not always 
been favored with wise and virtuous presidents, although 
they have been of our own choice. We do not always choose 
well. It is indeed terrible now to look back beyond the 
rebellion, and the bloodshed, and the numberless bereavements, 
to the two administrations which preceded, and consider the 
influence which they had in producing sedition, rebellion, 
assassination ; which administrations, even if they meant well, 
and even while they did many things well, were yet so weak, 
and unwittingly corrupt in respect to Southern proclivities, as 
to conspire with the slave-power, for the lasting perpetuation of 
oppression in the land ; and it is a striking testimony to the 
strength of our political frame-work, that it has survived the 
shock, that it has outrode the storm, which was steadily gathering 
under so many years of maladministration. When the counsels 
of this nation were carrying us headlong. Almighty God came 
to our rescue, and raised up for us a ruler of royal sagacity, 
and integrity ; a waw, long before he was president, — 



" statesman, yet friend to truth ; of soul sincere, 
In action faithful, and in honor clear ; 
Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
Who sought no title, and who lost no friend ; 
Ennobled by himself, by all approved, 
Praised, Avept, and honored, by the world he loved. 

Such a ruler was elected, and re-elected ; and, believe me, my 
hearers, I am not mortified now, that I plead with you last 
November to put this pilot again at the helm, with the per- 
suasion that, " under this pilot, we should weather the storm, 
venturing the prediction moreover,-no very profound predic- 
tion —that, if elected, and treason, and base rebellion, were 
invited to enter upon the long stretch of another period of four 
years, the foul conspiracy would be scattering before the time 
of the singing of birds should come ; and, furthermore, that 
the fact of°his re-election would strike the fetters surely from 
four millions of bondmen, whom he did not scorn to own as 
brethren, and for whose liberation he " humbly invoked the 
favor of Almighty God." Noble man ! 

" He was not born to shame. 
Upon his brow shame was ashamed to sit." 

"He was a man, take him for all in all, 
We shall not look upon his like again." 

How conscientious, how courageous, how constant, how 
incorruptible, how gentle, how truthful, how transparent, 
how patient, how patriotic, how sympathetic; how trustworthy 
his conclusions; slow, perhaps, but sure; tried as none 
beside has been, but, like Abraham of old, " found faithful in 
temptation," and ever committing his way unto the Lord. 
Such a ruler have we lost. No ordinary character. Read 
ac^ain his last words at Springfield, at Pliiladclphia, at Gettys- 
btiro- They map out the man better than any analysis ot 
miire " The elements were so mixed in him ; " his enemies 
concede it, and blush to think that they ever were his enemies. 
The nations that sneered are all united now in rendering him 
homage. Even Punch invokes the Muses, and makes an 
humble acknowledgment ;— 



8 

" Yes he had lived to shame me from my sneer, 
To lame mj pencil, and confute my pen, — 
To make me own this kind of prince's peer, 
TMs rail-splitter, a true-born king of men. 

So he grew up a destined work to do. 
And lived to do it; four long-suffering years, 

lU-ftxte, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through. 
And then he heard the hisses changed to cheers. 

The Old World and the New, from sea to sea, 

Utter one voice of sympathy and shame ; 
Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat high; 

Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came." 

We do, indeed, my hearers, make great and prolonged 
lamentation over liim. But, as was said of the centurion, 
" he is worthy for whom we do this." As King David said at 
the burial of Abner, " Know ye not that there is a prince 
and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? " 

But a third reason for our extraordinary grief relates to his 
sudden and violent end. Our sensibilities are so shocked at 
the crime that caused his death, greater grief than otherwise is 
unavoidable. " The most arch deed of piteoiis massacre that 
ever yet this land was guilty of;" and it has stirred the sym- 
pathies of mankind, as no natural death had done. Witness 
the demonstrations of condolence from people and kingdoms 
abroad. And no doubt they are sincere ; not, certainly, the 
affectations of sheer hypocrisy. 

" In the sight of this great crime," says Lord John Russell 
in the House of Lords, " the Crown, the Parliament, and the 
People of Great Britain do feel the deepest sympathy with the 
United States." The Earl of Derby has not been our best 
friend, be sure. But " we view with horror," he declares, 
" with detestation, and indignation, the atrocious crime." " It 
has produced a feeling of horror and indignation throughout 
the civilized world," was the language used in the Corps Legis- 
latif of France. And so it was in the Congress of Spain, and 
Italy, and Austria,- and from every nation of note under 
heaven. And how was it here at home ? You have not for- 
gotten ? Black day indeed in our calendar. The sky seemed 
dark at noon. Men held their breath. They solemnly and 



religiously vowed the extermination of the assassins. If 
slavery had not been doomed before, it was then. If the mur- 
derers had any sympathizers, such thought it prudent to hold 
their peace, in every place, from the Bay of Fundy to San 
Francisco. Scarce a dog dared to move his tongue. You can 
imagine how modified the grief, had Abraham Lincoln, died like 
Washington, at his own fireside, and by the hand of disease. 
Not so keen the poignancy of the public or private sorrow ; 
yes, how it had mitigated the family affliction, if the desolate 
companion of our late President, like the mourning matron of 
Mt. Yernon, could have had but two days of preparation, as 
Mrs. Washington had, for the parting pangs ; or, even as it was, 
if but one word of intelligent recognition could have fallen 
from his pale lips. 

"Oh, horrible; hellish, crime ! 
Murder most foul, as in the best it is ; 
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. 
Aye, heaven and earth do cry, impossible ; 
The shuddering angels, round the eternal throne, 
Shriek impossible, this damn'd assassination." 

But feeling baffles all expression. To dwell on the damna- 
bleness of the deed, will not do. The man who says he is glad 
at such a deed, ought to lie, side by side, with the murderous 
demon, in an unknown grave. 

I must go on to say, in the fourth place, that the general 
grief is aggravated by the thought that our great leader through 
the long wilderness of blood, and tears, and hopes delayed, and 
murmurings oft, though coming, like the renowned leader of old, 
in plain sight of peace, and rest, was yet not permitted to enter 
the promised land. " And Moses went up from the plains of 
Moab to the top of Pisgah, and the Lord showed him all the land 
unto the utmost sea, and the South I And the Lord said, this 
is the land which I swear unto thee ; I have caused thee to see 
it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." Glory 
and thanksgiving forever be to God, that our Moses, in like man- 
ner, was spared to go up to Pisgah's top, and, after what he 
had endured, himself behold Gilead, and all the goodly land. 
From that glorious height, he doubtless ascended to that Being, 



10 

whose blessing, and interposition, lie had so often supplicated. 
He is in the many mansions, we are on the march ; our loss 
is his great gain. And yet our weak nature will have its way, 
and the heart will ache at the thought, that he, whose heroic 
patience had overcome the complainings of friends, and con- 
quered the uprisings of the enemy, might not live to preside 
over a peaceful, and tranquil, and undivided nation. Must he 
sow only in tears, that others may reap in joy ! 0, arm of the 
Lord, divide Jordan, and let thy suffering servant pass over ! 
But is this forbidden ! Then, " Thy will be done, Lord ! " 
"We had hoped to see his honest face, and welcome him, in some 
future tour among these loyal States, which stood faithfully by 
him, in extremity. But we will be content to remember, and 
thank the Lord, that ere he died, the gates of the rebel capital, 
which had been four years barred, had been broken down, and, 
hand in hand with little Tad, with a republican simplicity that 
was worthy of the best days of Rome, he was able to tread 
with his own feet, those proud pavements. " When Charles the 
Bold captured Liege, he ordered the citizens to batter down a 
new entrance in their walls, in honor of his triumphal entry. 
Louis the Great, and so King David, were wont to take posses- 
sion of conquered cities, with the utmost pomp. But our 
lamented Lincoln is attended by only a few marines, without 
music, or banners, and honored most by the crowds of bond- 
men, who hailed him as their Liberator, and danced before 
him in ecstacies of delight." But he is gone — 

"War at his feet his thundering trump had dashed, 
And Peace was taking up lier warbling lyre, 
And flowers were burying soft the thorns — when flashed, 
How quick ! how deadly, the assassin's fire : 

Gone when our skies were bright 
With promise ; when the rainbow's lovely light 
Was breaking ; when white Peace, the glittering dove. 
Threw courier colors on the cloven cloud ; 
When promised spring was bursting, and above, 
And round were ringing halleluias loud." 

Saturday, just six weeks before the day of his death, in a 
second Inaugural, which is worthy of being handed down with 
the farewell Address of Washington, and from a seat of power 



11 

superior to any other upon the face of the earth, he pro- 
nounced these words, " Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
pray, that the mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away." 
His prayer was answered sooner than he expected. Let us be 
pacified, in our disappointment and bereavement, to remember, 
that he finished the great work God gave him to do, and was at 
once called to go up higher. " Good and faithful servant, 
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

One other reason for our extraordinary grief, I had purposed 
to mention. There has been from the beginning of our afflic- 
tion, and must be for the present, no little solicitude as to the 
conduct of Mr. Lincoln's successor. No sooner had the first 
throb of anguish a little subsided, than the reflection arose, 
who is to take the reins now, and what will the consequences 
be ? Any change would have caused anxiety. Our lamented 
President had been behind the scenes, and had better oppor- 
tunities than any other man, to learn, in the process of con- 
quering rebellion, how to deal with it, when conquered. And 
beside he had so peculiarly the confidence of the people, as to 
guide the affairs of the nation from a vantage-ground, which 
the best of successors could not attain without time. And 
then we had no choice as to the successor. We did not 
seriously consider a vacancy, when nominating the Vice-Presi- 
dent. If we had, it is not certain that we should have made 
any wiser selection. But it is quite probable that it would 
have been a different person. However, it must be Andrew 
Johnson, for better or worse. And then to crown all, this very 
individual had just signally dishonored himself, as it was 
believed, in the eyes of the two continents, and the word had 
often been whispered round, what if Mr. Lincoln should be 
taken away ! And lo ! the very thing that we feared, had 
come upon us. And it seemed as if our apprehensions, but 
partially concealed, had stimulated the assassins to their fell, 
infernal deeds ; who, embittered, be sure, against the Admin- 
istration, but more envenomed against the Union, had sought 
to stab liberty, and extinguish the life of the nation. And oh ! 
how these tempestuous thoughts rushed through the mind that 
Saturday, and we were almost mad with grief and agony. And 



12 

of course we cannot yet be wholly assured, although, as for 
the inaugural disgrace, there is much reason to believe that " a 
rebel's hand put poison to the lips." I shall have something to 
say, in a moment, of our grounds of encouragement, and our 
growing confidence. And still the policy of the new President 
has yet mainly to be developed, and strong and cheering as are 
our expectations, we can nevertheless tell better, four years 
hence than now, whether the man who has suddenly been 
called to the helm, has capacity in proportion to his marvellous 
courage, and dauntless heroism ; and breadth to gauge the 
magnitude of our mighty interests, lil^e his lamented prede- 
cessor. Alexander always carried in his pocket, a copy of 
the Iliad, that he might form his character after the 
delineation of Homer's heroes. So our present Chief Magis- 
trate has ever at hand an illustrious model. The indica- 
tions are certainly favorable that he will follow after that 
which is good. 

Considering thus the various features in our great affliction — 
the loss of our President, a great and good President, an 
assassinated President, and just as a better day was dawning 
on him, and the uncertainty as to what should follow, surely 
no community of mankind in the world will marvel at the 
information, that great multitudes of people " carried him to 
his burial, and made great lamentation over him." 

But are there no alleviating suggestions ? Truly there are. 
And one and another have been noticed, incidentally. But 
think again, for a few moments, what manner of consolation 
we have. The first and last consolation, the fundamental and 
eternal consolation, is the glorious truth that God reigns. As 
the old contraband said, " They can't 'sassinate God;" and it 
is high time that wicked men, the world over, found it out. 
Oh ! when will men learn that it is of no use to attempt to 
have their own way, so long as God Almighty is on the throne ? 
They may trample on the truth, and think they have extin- 
guished it. They may rebel against righteousness, and run 
up the devil's flag. They may abuse all the beseechings of 
mercy ; kill, starve, spread contagion, kidnap, enslave, lash, let 
loose their lusts, break all laws, human and divine, and flatter 
themselves that they have conquered in Satan's cause ; or, 



13 

failing of that, that they have at least escaped the consequences 
of their crimes. But God lives, and God is after them ; 
" evil pursiieth " them. And they will go down in " the last 
ditch," if not before. Haman is hung on the gallows he 
prepared for Mordecai. The counsel of Ahithophel is come 
to nought. Pharaoh and his hosts are drowned in the depths 
of the sea. God hath gotten us the victory. Sing unto the 
Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. " Man's battles, but 
God's war." 

" When King Arthur lay dying, he ordered his ponderous 
sword, with which he had wrought his great victories, to be 
sunken in a lake ; accordingly it was lifted high by his trusty 
knights, and cast forth over the waves ; and as it glittered in 
tlic moonlight, and cleft its way down through the air, toward 
the depths, uprose from the waters a mysterious hand, arrayed 
in white samite, grasping the weapon by the hilt, brandishing 
it with awful majesty, and drawing it down out of sight." 
No wonder that three thousand people assembled on a recent 
occasion, applauded the beautiful parallel, while the orator 
described our " government as drawing forth its sword of war, 
and lifting it on high to strike the blow, but God, as having 
caught it out of our weak hand, and, with his own divine right 
arm omnipotent, hewed out our way to victory." 

My friends ; President Lincoln, dearly beloved, is no longer 
alive ; but the Lord livetli for ever and ever. Immortal con- 
solation. It was hard to bow in submission to this terrible 
stroke, and plant such precious expectations in six feet of 
earth. But it was God's will, and God will plant upon his 
bloody grave the pillars of a purer, stronger, holier govern- 
ment. As for himself, he went up in the fulness of his fame. 
There is nothing to be regretted. He might have stood as 
high in the public esteem hereafter. I think he would — such 
a man — but never higher ; it were hardly possible. A measure 
that is full cannot be any fuller. Some have said, he might 
have failed in the difficult task of reconstruction ; I do not 
believe it. He had a many-sided mind ; could adapt himself 
to different conditions ; was not so much of a professional, 
as a universal man. Said one who knew him intimately, 
" The most extraordinary thing about him was, that he was 



14 

equal to any emergency. He never disappointed you by falling 
below the occasion." And so Stephen A. Douglas once said, 
" Lincoln is one of the peculiar men who perform with admi- 
rable skill whatever they undertake." No ! men ! He would 
not have failed. His was the genius of the last administration, 
undoubtedly, and would have been of this. Could he not have 
acted the executioner? Could he have written his name, 
think you, to no death-warrant ? He was humane, it is true, 
yet stern ; merciful, but none of your miserable mercy which 
mangles justice. He had the heart of a woman. There was 
no butchery in his nature. And yet, for the sake of justice, 
he declared, in his first address, " Bloody war shall be waged. 
If need be." And you know he never flinched, through four 
years of blood and bitterest sorrows. And what did he declare 
in his last address ? " If God wills that the war continue 
until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred years 
of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the 
sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be 
said, ' The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous 
altogether.' " A man who uttered such words, and did such 
deeds, have failed in the final issue ? Never ! Suffer the 
sword to fall inexorably upon hundreds of thousands of the 
poor deluded victims of the rebellion, and let Jeff. Davis and 
his compeers in crime escape ? Never ! no more than Andrew 
Johnson. Our slaughtered President would have been true to 
the end. But he had honor enough ; let him depart. Raised 
up from the obscurity of a log cabin to be the foremost man in 
all the world, and to have a niche in the temple of fame through 
all time, what more could aspiration ask ? The Conqueror of 
the rebellion, and the Liberator of the bondman. Honorable 
epitaph. Sleep on, thou illustrious hero. 

" Thou in our wonder and astonishment 
Hast built thyself a livelong monument, 
And so sepulchred, in such pomp dost lie. 
That Kings, for such a tomb, would wish to die." 

" Few," as said Dr. Emmons, fifty years since, " have heads 
and hearts equal to the great design of delivering nations from 



15 

slavery and ruin." Our Deliverer is made a martyr, but the 
cause survives : our chieftain is cut off, but the nation and 
country continue. And the mantle of the ascended Elijah 
falls upon his successor. 



"Martyr of Freedom : may thy mantle rest 

On him who standeth now to help and save : • 
"While every drop that from thy wounds outpressed, 
Shall bloom in flowers on Treason's bloody grave." 



Foul crime would fain serve the cause of treason and oppression, 
and lengthen out the wretched slaveholders' rebellion. But it 
only breathes its last the sooner, and now it is dead, plucked 
up by the roots, blasted finally, and forever, by the blow that 
deprived Abraham Lincoln of his life. " Assassination," as says 
D'Israeli, " has never changed the history of the world. The 
costly sacrifice of Csesar did not propitiate the inexorable des- 
tiny of his country ! The violent death of Henry the Fourth 
of France, and the Prince of Orange, are conspicuous examples 
to the same intent. There is no cause for depression in the 
United States. From this awful trial, from this violent demise 
of their chief, the American people will come, chastened and 
regenerated." Thank you. Brother Englishman : it is even so : 
we are not discouraged. We are chastened, but not killed ; 
cast down, but not destroyed ; troubled, but not in despair. 
The councils of Great Britain, as we have heard, were dis- 
tracted, and all but blasted, so soon as the celebrated Pitt 
ceased to breathe. Solomon's death divided the kingdom. 
And so after the death of Joshua, there was a long age of 
anarchy. But our honorable man, and mighty man, and coun- 
sellor, is taken away, and there is no interregnum, nor commo- 
tion. It speaks volumes for the perpetuity of our government. 
And now let us strive to strengthen liberty, as we have 
conquered it ; first by walking humbly before God ; and sec- 
ondly by observing the great law of love to man, of whatever 
nation, complexion, or superscription. Let us dare to be just. 
Let us do right, though the heavens do fall. Let us hang, 
high treason, or ostracise it ; in some way exterminate it, to 
all eternity. 



16 

" Oh Justice, heaven-born, with radiant brow severe. 
Lift thy majestic form on Reason's throne ; 
Bid grief henceforth suppress the futile tear, 
And bare the sword to vindicate thine own." 

And let us give, moreover, the long degraded negro his due. 
Give him the Bible, and the ballot, as well as the bullet. 
If he has used the one as well as we, he will the other. 
And if he does not quite as well, yet do right. If he has 
borne arms for us, he ought to have a voice. Three hundred 
thousand of them have turned the tide to victory, and saved 
the country. If we so wrong them now, the shades of Fort 
Wagner and Fort Pillow will plead to God against us. Qualify 
the freedman to read and write, and vote,. as soon as possible, 
and let him make the most of himself that he can. And if 
you can't keep ahead in the race, call him the smarter of the 
two. So establish the liberty which is begun. Build on the 
foundations which were laid by the lamented and illustrious 
dead, and the memory of the just, as I hasten to say in con- 
clusion, shall be blessed. 

" Forever green will his loved memory flourish, 
Forever green when marble piles decay. 
Green in his soul's grand thoughts the land shall nourish. 
Green in the deeds its destinies shall sway." 



11-136. 












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